SEO expectations
What should you expect from your dental SEO campaign?
One of the most frequently asked questions of my team at Dental Media is “how quickly can you get my website to number 1 in Google?” Whilst this is a fair and perfectly understandable question, there is no definite answer. In this blog we’ll take a look at the question of “time to rank” and why many different factors can affect it.
Realistic expectations and transparency
Many digital marketing (“SEO”) companies still proclaim that they can get your website to the number one position in double-quick time; but the reality is that they can’t. It’s now fairly apparent to most business owners who know how Google works, that there are no “magic” schemes for gaining top ranking results and pushing too hard can get your website penalised irretrievably. The link schemes pushed so heavily by a couple of dental marketing companies a few years back are now defunct and have left many website owners stuck with Google penalties.
Google’s key objective is to present users with the websites which provide the best answers to their search queries – so you need to work hard to ensure that your site meets the quality criteria to achieve this. Undoubtedly this means hard work to build a great website in the first instance and then ongoing efforts to maintain it with new information and to build up its overall authority and relevance for Google. Genuinely there are no quick wins, but the huge rewards that a prominently ranked website can deliver, do make the efforts worthwhile.
So which factors come into play?
There are a few things to consider here:
Budget – gaining good search positions takes time, effort and expertise. Part of this involves generating suitable, high quality content not just for your website and blog, but also to distribute through other Internet channels. Generating this type of material does not come cheap – so if your budget is insufficient, you may struggle to keep up with the businesses who are able to spend more. However, you need to do your homework here – too many businesses go to large agencies and spend a fortune thinking that lots of work is being done on their behalf. In reality, a lot of your cash is simply going to paying their overheads. So choosing to work with a smaller company or training up in-house resource, can often be much more successful.
The level of competition – for sure you will not be the only dental practice in your area trying to improve their Google position. Indeed, virtually everywhere you look, there are businesses which have been conducting SEO for years and have become entrenched in the top ranking positions. Being totally transparent and realistic, displacing these guys can take a long time and, if they see you coming, chances are that they will ramp up their own efforts in response. Then it comes down to the amount of resource you can put into it, your budget and of course the skill of the team doing the work. You need to be patient and realistic – more-so if your practice is in a large town or city where the competition can be fierce.
What can you expect?
It is perfectly reasonable to expect to rank for several key dental search terms on page one for your location within 6 months. Some of those keywords should also be in the top half of page one and perhaps a few of them right at the top if you are in an area where competition is less intense. This will definitely improve the traffic to your website and start delivering new patient enquiries. I won’t discuss costs and return on investment here as this is covered in more detail on our blog here.
Pushing generic search terms such as “dentist” and “cosmetic dentist” into the top positions can take a lot more time, but it’s here where the real “gold” lies. However, it can’t be done “on the cheap” and please keep in mind that your local competitors who may already occupy these slots, are unlikely to just let you slip past them. Of course it’s not just about being top for “dentist Trumpton” – there is excellent, targeted traffic to be gained with “long tail” search phrases too and your SEO team should also be working on this for you.
Proactivity – how can the practice assist?
Whereas historically you could simply outsource your web marketing to a third party agency, now there are other factors in play where the practice really does need to be involved. The first area is social media and how the practice team can assist by posting engaging content via selected social media channels. Elsewhere in this blog we’ve discussed how this type of content is much more useful and engaging than much of the bland, automated junk posted by some dental marketing companies (this simply doesn’t work). Secondly there is the need to seek out positive Google reviews to help get your website into the Google ‘3 pack’ local results on page one – this is very powerful and must not be neglected. Additionally, the occasional blog post contributed by the local team, will also help to make your overall web presence more attractive and interesting, for existing patients and potential new ones too.
Summary
It’s well understood that dentists can gain many new patient enquiries if their websites are prominent on page one of Google. However, what is less well understood is that it takes time, effort, skill and money to achieve this. Gaining several page one rankings can be achieved reasonably quickly; however to get the really generic search terms right to the top, particularly in competitive environments, can take a long time and patience is required. Of course, whilst keyword positions are still important, the main measurements of success are website traffic and the number of conversions (contact forms, ‘phone calls) delivered. If these metrics are increasing as expected, then your marketing team are definitely getting the job done.
If you would like to discuss improving the position of your dental website in Google, please call our digital marketing team for free and practical advice on 01332 672548. We’ll be pleased to share our results.